Title: Vivian Apple at the End of the WorldAuthor: Katie CoyleSeries: Vivian AppleDate Started: February 16Date Finished: February 16Format: Hardcover from my local library

Let’s play a game. What would you do if you knew the world was going to end three years in advance? That is the question that Vivian Apple and everyone in this book has to ask themselves. A crazy guy who claims himself a prophet, has made a prophecy that the Rapture was coming on March 24 in three years. Some people have freaked out and joined a new religion to spare their souls. Others, like Vivian, have continued on with their lives as if nothing has changed. Vivian herself is at a party the night before the Rapture, it’s almost like a demented New Year’s Eve party as people count down to the remaining hours before people are taken. The fated hour comes though and nothing happens…

Not right away at least. Later that morning when Vivian comes home both of her parents are gone. As the day progresses, her friends come over and tell her the news, there have been more disappearances. The world is in crazy mode thinking that what this prophet has said will come true. The Rapture has come now in six months the world is going to end. The weather has already started to act strange, it has to be a sign.

Vivian doesn’t stick around to find out. Her grandparents come for her and take her to New York where she spends the next six weeks not knowing what to do. On the eve of a hurricane – in May – she decides to leave and go back to her hometown and her friends. But not everything is as she left it and the East Coast is now officially gone. Not knowing what to do she enlists the help of her friend Harp to figure out what really happen on the Rapture and if their parents are actually alive.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World is a refreshing dystopian novel. There aren’t any love triangles. There aren’t any bitchy parents. There is just the unknown and a gutsy girl – who hasn’t acted gutsy in the past – wanting answers for what is going on in the world. I think that’s the reason I liked this book so much. It’s like ‘hey the world might be ending! Want to go on a road trip to find out why?’ And for a book that was about the coming apocalypse, it sure did have it’s funny moments.

There were a few times though when the story did lose me. Like for instance, when it was revealed that the whole Rapture thing and The Church of America is just a ploy for Capitalism – although if you didn’t figure that out when Vivian mentions the Church of America line of products, shame on you – and the Three Angels kind of sort of reveal themselves, I wanted to know who they were! Also why were they so comfortable killing all those people to make it look like the Rapture had actually happened? And the final thing is when Vivian runs into her mom again and she mentions getting a letter and other people who were part of the Church leaving weeks in advance, then how come nobody noticed until the day of the Rapture?

Final Rating: 5 out of 5 stars. I was thoroughly entertained and I really want to see where Vivian goes next. Here’s to hoping a library in my co-op picks up the next novel.